


Into the Witching Hour

by SerStolas



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/M, Familiars, Warlocks, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-03-29 11:31:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: The cautious would urge Cassian Andor not to ask too many questions and not too look too deep into the disappearance of the man who last headed the Council of Magi.  The Cautious would tell Cassian he should be content with the company of his Imp and his Apprentice.  But Cassian Andor was never necessarily the most cautious.  As Krennic, the new head of the Council tightens his hold on the hidden world of magic that exists side by side with the mundane, a mysterious woman named Jyn appears and gives Cassian even more questions that answers.Not beta'd.  All mistakes are mine.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Rogue One, Star Wars, or the characters.
> 
> And yes, some elements of this story were influenced by the Harry Potter books and some other modern magic tropes. 
> 
> My thanks to Imsfire for previously letting me bounce ideas off them and to CaptainAndors for inspiration.

The distant wail of police sirens and traffic still echoed in his head as Cassian shut the door of his small ranch and leaned back against the door, letting out a worn sigh. He'd been up for over twenty four hours, much of that time spent at yet another Magi gathering where Krennic repeated meaningless words and assurances that their world was a safe from the danger of the more mundane society, those who lived blissfully unaware of the existence of magic, witches, warlocks, shapeshifters, fairies, and any number of other things. 

Krennic had rattled off another list of things they should and shouldn't do, designed at "protecting" them from the mundane world. Because these words had come Krennic and not the Council itself, they weren't necessarily laws, but strong "suggestions."

Cassian felt his stomach churn at the thought. Each story Krennic told was designed to make people fear the mundane world, and each suggestion he made was designed to put those of their world further and further under Krennic's influence and rule. There were already general rules about not revealing yourself to the world at large and performing spells or even general magic in front of the non-magical public, but the suggestions that magic should only be performed in certain areas that Krennic or his advisors deemed safe, and the general suggestion that if you saw someone performing such magic in an "unsafe" area that you should report it?

There was a difference between safe and controlling. There had also been the suggestion that certain protections should be given to only registered witches and magical beings and that certain types of magical beings didn't fall into those categories...

The man intended to rule by fear, and Cassian didn't like any of it.

"Cassian, you home?" his Apprentice's tired voice asked from the hall. 

"Thought you'd be asleep already, Bodhi," Cassian greeted the other man. Bodhi was only a few years younger than Cassian, but his mother hadn't been a witch and he'd come late to his gifts, thus why he was still considered Cassian's apprentice at 23.

The dark haired man yawned as he half stumbled into the living room, already in pajamas, and shook his head lightly. "Was, woke up when the door opened," Bodhi murmured. "What's up?"

As a mere Apprentice, Bodhi hadn't been invited to the "Town Hall" Krennic had held that evening. Instead he'd stayed home with Cassian's Imp, Kay. 

Thinking of the Imp made Cassian look around, wondering where the Shadow Imp had gone off too. Shadow Imps were not creatures originally of this plane, and sometimes Kay would vanish for hours at a time, only to reappear either of his own will or if Cassian summoned him for help with a spell.

"Hmm, oh, Kay said he'd be back in the morning," Bodhi answered Cassian's unspoken question as the older man looked around the living room. "So what happened?" Even half asleep, Bodhi could see Cassian's tenseness.

Cassian didn't speak for a moment as he headed into the kitchen and went through the motions of filling the tea kettle and putting it on the stove. He removed two cups from the cupboard, his eyes fixed on his actions as he debated how to explain what had happened that evening.

"Krennic," he said at last. "He spent most of the town hall making more 'suggestions, and unfortunately a lot of people seemed to be listening tonight."

Bodhi winced and followed Cassian into the kitchen. Bodhi knew well that as one of those not born of two magically talented parents, he lay in one of the groups that Krennic was not fond of. "Did he say any specific that would.." he trailed off.

Cassian shook his head. "No, not this time, but the sentiment went unspoken." He mechanically filled two tea balls and set them in the mugs. "He also reiterated how tragic Councilor Erso's disappearance was, but that the community must move forward." He scowled at those words. He knew he wasn't the only one who suspected foul play in Councilor Galen Erso's disappearance. Two other council members, Mon Mothma and Davits Draven, had expressed their concerns, but Krennic and his supporters had quieted them, slowly stealing away influence and power. 

It was an insidious descent, into what, Cassian was not sure, but he knew he didn't like it.

"Think he'll have you watched? Bodhi voiced the concern.

"I've been careful not to say anything, so I don't think he'll watch me too closely, and as long as I don't poke around too much to his knowledge," Cassian grimaced. At least one person who had been poking around for clues had a rather unfortunate and to Cassian, suspicious accident two months ago.

"Then we'll just have to be careful," Bodhi concluded.

Cassian frowned and glanced at him. "Bodhi, you're less than six months from the end of your Apprenticeship. Are you sure you want to risk 'poking around?'"

"Galen was my friend, Cassian, I can't just let his disappearance go."

The older man met Bodhi's gaze, in part because he really couldn't argue with that. Both of them had, quietly, to each other, and to one or two others they knew, voiced concerns when Counciler Erso had disappeared a little over six months ago. The general makeup of the Council had changed in the months prior to Erso's disappearance, people who opposed Erso's policy of general leniency and peace towards the non-magical world. The Councilor had never come out and suggested they expose themselves, and he'd always urged caution because those without magic might not necessarily be able to understand the magic world that well, but he'd never harbored any negative attitudes towards those born into mundane families, or those whose magic wasn't as strong as others.

Cassian's own blood wasn't particularly 'pure,' but both his parents had been witches before their deaths during a round of infighting between the Purists and the rest of their world some twenty odd years ago. 

Cassian's own transition from Witch to Warlock a few years ago had raised eyebrows among the Purists. When a Witch came into adulthood, they would often bond with a familiar, usually some form of animal, though sometimes they might bond with a magical beast, or in a rare case, a shapeshifter. Cassian's bonding with a Shadow Imp from the plane of Shadow was completely unexpected by most people, and suspect to others.

Elemental creatures rarely consented to bond with anything or anyone, but when Cassian had accidentally unlocked an elemental ward, the Shadow Imp Kay had been freed. Intrigued by this human, the Imp had begun following Cassian around, and eventually expressed interest in Bonding with Cassian as a familiar rather than return to his own plane.

Cassian and Bodhi had both kept their heads down publicly since Erso's disappearance, but that didn't mean they weren't quietly looking into things. And evidently Bodhi might have been looking further into things than Cassian had originally suspected. He couldn't blame the other man, though he wished his Apprentice had been comfortable enough to tell him.

"Alright, Bodhi," Cassian said at last. He quietly poured hot water into both mugs when the tea kettle began to whistle. "But lets work together from now on."

"I can do that," Bodhi promised. "Speaking of, I saw that cat again today."

Cassian's brown furrowed. "Cat? The Nebelung?"

Both men had recently seen a gray, green eyed Nebelung cat wandering their neighborhood, and around their garden in particular. The breed wasn't a common one, and this specimen was larger than most stray cats around this part of the city. 

Bodhi nodded. "She, I'm fairly certain it is a she now, sat outside our back door in the garden watching me for almost an hour while I was grinding herbs today. But she vanished over the fence the second I stepped outside."

Cassian frowned slightly. "I wonder if I should put up some kind of ward," he mused. "I don't think that this is an ordinary cat."

"Fairly certain she isn't," Bodhi agreed. "You know that sort of energy unbonded familiars give off? She felt similar to that, but not quite." He accepted a tea mug from Cassian. "Something to think about."

Cassian nodded, sipping his own tea quietly. Both men fell into silence, and eventually Bodhi yawned again, knowing Cassian had made one of the tea blends that helped with insomnia. They quietly said their goodnights to each other and went towards their own rooms, the tea mugs left carelessly on the counter to be washed the next day.

For all his concerns, Cassian had known the tea would help him sleep. He expected to awaken in the morning to his alarm clock.

He did not expect to awaken to the sound of Kay shrieking in the Imp's native tongue and the sound of crashing crockery.  
He staggered out of bed, mind already beginning to summon the beginnings of a spell as he threw his bedroom door open and hurried down the hall. He nearly ran into Bodhi, who stood transfixed in the entrance to the kitchen, staring.

A tea mug lay in pieces on the kitchen floor. Kay dangled from the pendent light in the kitchen, cursing.

And a large gray furred, green eyed cat sat on the kitchen counter, watching them all with unblinking eyes.

A scowl crossed Cassian's expression and he pushed passed Bodhi into the kitchen. Kay, an inky, vaguely humanoid form with wings, hopped off the pendent light and glided to Cassian's shoulder, scrambling into a sitting position and wrapped his tail around Cassian's neck, glaring at the cat. "What do you have to say for yourself now?" Kay demanded of the cat in an acid tone.

The cat watched Kay with what Cassian swore was an amused expression and delicately cleaned one paw before turning her green eyes to Cassian.

"I believe my familiar asked you a question," Cassian said, his tone less acid than Kay's, but still annoyed.

The cat watched them for another minute, before changing shape, in the smoothest shift Cassian had ever seen, into a dark haired, green eyed woman with a fierce expression. She sat clad on Cassian's kitchen counter in knit shirt, cargo pants, a dark vest, and interestingly, no shoes. 

"My name is Jyn Erso," she announced calmy. "And I've come to you for help in finding my father."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn's on the hunt for people to help her find out where her father vanished to. Armed with old letters, she goes searching for one of his friends. Of course, she would be foolish to introduce herself without some reconnaissance first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Star Wars or the various modern fantasy tropes used in this story.
> 
> Fair warning this chapter is heavy on the information of Familiars and a bit worldbuildyish

The gray Nebelung cat moved on her stealthy little paws along the garden wall, green eyes fixed on the humans within. They were both male, the taller one with short dark hair, brown eyes, and tan skin and the other slightly shorter with pale brown skin, longer dark hair and deep brown eyes. They were both handsome in their own way, though the cat had no physical interest in either of them right now. She was on a mission, and human concerns like flirting and courting were the last thing on her mind.

Over the past two weeks she'd crept up their garden wall and watched them interact during the day, deducing that the taller one was both the older one and the teacher in this witch-to-witch interaction. The shorter one couldn't be much younger than the first though, the cat thought as she observed them, no more than a few years.

Bodhi Rook, her mind supplied as she watched the younger one as he carefully mixed crushed herbs in a mortal and pestle for some spell. These two specialized in spells of protection, mending, and general field use enchantments. Watching their movements, she guessed that both of them were trained to act more in the field, either observing or studying magic than most witches she'd known growing up who spent all of their time in their workshops. This Bodhi was particularly apt at spells involving more natural elements like the traditional four elements of fire, water, wind, and earth. He had a certain aura about him that she liked.

He couldn't have more than another six months to a year of Apprenticeship, she thought, the ideal candidate for a magical cat who might be looking for a witch to partner with. Under ordinary circumstances she would certainly consider it. Some witches viewed familiars as servants, but most new better. Familiars were more than just simple animals. They were creatures with a higher intelligence and ability than any mere mundane animal. Some of them were truly magical animals or the rare familiar like a griffin or fae dragon, and others were of a different lineage, possibly a fae creature or bloodline with the ability to change their shape. 

Jyn fell into the latter category. She was descended from both a human witch and a shapeshifting fae woman known as a Cait Sith. When you came from a mixed bloodline, your abilities could follow one or both of your parents talents. In Jyn's case, while she wasn't a powerful witch like her father had been, she had inherited her intellect from both he and her mother. Most of her talents followed her mother's bloodline, including the ability to interact with fae, change her shape, slip between the Otherworld and the mortal realms, etc. 

Normally she would have been a black cat, typically with a white mark on her chest, as most Cait Sith were in their cat forms. Talents she had inherited from her father helped her here though. Jyn could actually choose the appearance of her cat form because of the power flowing in her veins from Galen Erso's lineage. 

None of that lineage had helped her father, though. She'd received word some five and a half months ago from Mon Mothma, one of her father's old friends and fellow Council members, that her father had vanished mysteriously one night after what looked like a spell gone wrong. Those who had risen to power in his absence, specifically her father's old rival, Orson Krennic, had insisted something had gone wrong with the spell and killed her father, though there was no body. Others, like Mothma, suspected foul play, but Krennic evidently had too many supporters right now for Mothma and Draven to press the issue.

As a child, Jyn had been resentful when her father had, at the age of eight, sent her to live with the renegade witch Saw Guerra. Her mother had recently been killed, and now that she was older she could see her father had feared for her own safety. The public attitude towards Fae on the council at the time hadn't been the most cordial, and her father had suspected her mother had been killed because of what she was. 

Saw Guerra wasn't a popular witch in many circles at the time and tended to keep away from many factions of witch society. In hindsight, it was the safest place Galen Erso could have sent his daughter. Saw's tendency to associate more with those on the fringes of magical society, those who weren't the most popular, but never those Saw knew were truly evil, had ensured Jyn had a unique education in ways to keep herself hidden, magic that enhanced her ability to blend into crowds, etc. as well as a traditional witch's education as Saw's Appprentice, even if her gifts weren't particularly strong, Saw ensured she was at least trained in the basics.

Saw also had friends among the fae, those who had been able to help Jyn learn to control the abilities she'd inherited from her mother.

Upon word of her father's disappearance, she'd gone and dug up his last few letters to her, letters that reaffirmed, as many of his had over the years, his love for her, and his fear for her safety. The older she'd gotten, the more she understood it.

She remembered the chill she'd felt when Mon Mothma's message had informed her of her father's disappearance. She'd wanted to go and investigate immediately, but Saw had refused to let her go, instead telling her she needed to finish her education, then he would send her on her way. So just after her 21st birthday, she'd finished her education as Saw's Apprentice. Technically she wasn't much of a witch, and he'd told her point blank she might be better suited as a Familiar, but with her ability she had absolutely no reason to become a familiar if she didn't want to.

The truth was most creatures who became familiars didn't have to. They did so because they wanted to enter a partnership that would benefit both them and their witch. The bond between familiar and witch allowed witches to augment their abilities with the magic of their familiars, and it gave familiar's a chance to stretch their skills and helped balance their own magic, which could in some cases be a little out of wack and something they needed to channel through something or someone occasionally to keep things from going all out of wack.

Jyn was a rare breed of fae creature and witch, so she didn't have to become a Familiar, but if she ever chose to, it would offer her a partnership and platonic companionship that might sooth some of the loneliness that had dogged her most of her life.

Saw was one of those rare witches who refused to take a familiar, though why Jyn never knew, and knew not to ask. He did tell her, though, that the bond between witch and familiar could make both witch and familiar more powerful, and offered them a life long sort of companionship.

Jyn smiled in her cat form as she could almost hear Saw say "No, Jyn, not -that- kind of companionship. There's nothing sexual about the bond between witch and familiar. Okay, sometimes a witch whose familiar is a shapeshifter might form a romantic attachment, but that's rare. It's a lifelong platonic bond typically, and one that helps both parties."

She idly cleaned her paws as she watched the Apprentice Bodhi as she pulled herself from memory. Bodhi Rook, the name of one of her father's former students, if she recalled correctly. Saw told her Bodhi Rook was someone else's Apprentice that her father gave lessons to specifically on warding magic. Unlike some countries, the magical community here rarely sent their children to boarding school, but to a general local school that taught both magic and mundane skills to children through the age of 18. These schools were typically disguised as something similar to the private schools that some mundanes sent their children to, thus less likely to attract too much attention. After this a witch would be taken as an Apprentice by another witch to finish their magical education.

Saw had home-schooled Jyn, given their rather particular situation, though she'd attended a similar school for a few years before her mother's death. 

Bodhi Rook she had at least a general profile on from Saw and her father's letters, but his teacher, Cassian Andor, she had almost no information on. She knew from what Saw had discovered, and what she'd observed since, that he was a Warlock rather than just a witch, and had become one as a result of his dealings with his Familiar, the shadow Imp Kay. Cassian had a reputation to be very studious and serious, and Kay had a reputation of being snarky and questioning the logic of human actions.

Her observations over the past few weeks indicated that there was nothing 'evil' about Cassian, and that based on what she'd overhead, he was concerned with her father's disappearance and the coverup. All of Bodhi's mumbling indicated that he was a "good" man. She'd followed Cassian once over the past week to a gathering of witches that Krennic had held, and it told her a great deal about his character.

Her weeks of observation told her that these two witches, well, witch and warlock, were her best bet of finding allies in investigating her father's disappearance. She'd visited Mothma secretly twice, but her talks with the woman indicated that while Mothma would help however she could, Mothma felt she was perhaps too public a person to lead such an investigation, and Cassian Andor would be better suited to help Jyn.

So that night after the humans had gone to bed, Jyn, using some of her fae magic, slipped through their back garden door, and entered their kitchen. Late as it was, she decided to nap on a kitchen chair until morning when she would speak to them. A normal person, she acknowledged, would have knocked on their front door and talked to them like a normal human being, but Jyn wasn't human and she also felt like her appearance on their front door might attract unwanted attention in case Cassian was being watched

She did not expect to be rudely awakened by a Shadow Imp, screeching at her in Impish and demanding to know what she was in his Warlock's house. She'd batted the Imp rudely away when he'd gotten in her face, and then spent the next five minutes expertly dodging his shadow bolts as he tried to hit her, ending with two broken tea mugs on the floor and her hissing at him from the kitchen counter.

That of course awoke the two humans in the house and brought them running to the kitchen.

So much for a calm introduction, Jyn thought darkly. Humans and imps, Oi. So she'd transformed to her human form and introduced herself.

Cassian leveled a faint glare at her. "I don't care if you are Galen Erso' daughter, what are you doing in my house without invitation?"

Jyn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "If I'd come in the front door and you were followed, someone would have noticed, and my human form -is- known as being my father's daughter. I didn't want to just announce my presence."

Cassian gave a long suffering sigh as he called Kay to him and began to sooth the Imp, who was still glaring at Jyn.

Bodhi leveled her with a glare of his own, and his words were a bit more effective in making her feel sorry. "She is Galen's daughter, Cassian, I recognize her from pictures. I know we've written a few times, Jyn, but a little warning might have been nice. MOst people don't like random people popping into their house, okay?"

Jyn huffed a moment, then looked at the broken crockery and nodded. She, a little reluctantly, addressed the Imp. "I am sorry for swatting at you and trying to bite you, Kay. I came into your territory without invitation and I suppose I could have just knocked on the garden door."

Kay, eyed her for a long moment from Cassian's shoulders, his wings fluffed out and tail twitching in agitation, then he gave his own sigh of long suffering and flew over a few feet away from her. "I am sorry I shot bolts at you, I suppose," he said at last. "Next time do not enter without invitation. Fae."

Jyn nodded in acknowledgement then offered him a hand. "Hello Kay, Shadow Imp. I am Jyn Erso, Cait Sith."

In a ritualistic way, Kay took one of her fingers and shook it with his small hand. "Hello, Jyn Erso, Cait Sith, I am Kay, Shadow Imp."

Cassian's gaze flickered between the two of them, faintly amused and faintly annoyed before he said. "Now that we know why we're all here and introductions are done, can you please get off my counter and we can talk like civilized people?"

Jyn gave him a toothy smile and hopped off the counter. "Of course. Can we have some tea?" She looked at the cups. "Though I suppose I should help clean up first."

Bodhi sighed and went to get Jyn a broom.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our three potential heroes discuss the situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own star wars.
> 
> Find me on tumblr @serstolas

Bodhi felt the beginnings of a headache forming behind his temples as he sat at the kitchen table with a Jyn in human form, Cassian, and Kay, who was currently sitting on Cassian's shoulder with his tail around his Warlock's neck and eyeing Jyn. Jyn had swept up the earlier mess of tea mugs and Cassian had ended up frying up eggs and pancakes for breakfast for the three of them, muttering about how he really didn't want to discuss a missing person's case on an empty stomach.

Perhaps it was because she was fae, but Jyn had easily made herself at home in the kitchen while Cassian made breakfast, heating water and brewing tea for the four of them. She hadn't asked Kay if he wanted a mug, she'd simply made one, and oddly, Bodhi thought, the Imp hadn't even complained. He'd even drank the tea.

Bodhi swore there was some kind of unspoken communication going on between the Cait Sith and the Shadow Imp. Maybe it was a familiar thing? But Jyn wasn't anyone's familiar, was she? He'd heard tails of Cait Sith willingly forming familiar bonds with witches, but he didn't know why he was thinking of Jyn in that capacity...

"So what is your plan exactly?" Cassian interrupted Bodhi's train of thought with the question he directed at Jyn. "We know you want to find your father, but how exactly do you propose to do that without alerting Krennic you're here, since I assume you wish to keep your presence a secret from him?"

Bodhi turned a questioning glance at her, wondering exactly how she planned to do that himself. He had a feeling it involved him and Cassian, since she'd decided to enter their house the night before.

"That I need your help for," Jyn replied, confirming Bodhi's thoughts. She took a long sip of tea and regarded her empty plate for a moment before continuing. "I can't let Krennic know I'm here. He does know that my father had a daughter, but he doesn't know that my mother was fae, or that I am a Cait Sith. Outside of the two of you and perhaps a few allies, I don't think I can wander about town in human form. That's one reason I need your help. I need someone who can talk to other witches, Mothma, maybe Dravin, and see what they know about what my father might have been doing before he disappeared."

Cassian frowned slightly as he turned her words over in his head. "I can meet with Dravin without a issue. He and I meet often enough for odd jobs I do for him that it shouldn't attract too much attention. Mothma might be a problem though, at least for me." He pursed his lips then said, "If you are willing to involve others that I trust, I do have a friend that can meet with Mothma who won't attract undue attention. She's been rather disturbed by Krennic's rise to power."

"Saw said I could trust you," Jyn replied. "And based on my father's letters and Saw's information, I know I can trust Bodhi. I want to find out what happened to my father, but I don't want to get more people involved than necessary."

"I think talking to Mothma is fairly necessary," Cassian put in.

Bodhi cocked his head as he listened to the conversation. He recalled his last interactions with Galen before the man's disappearance six months before. A few weeks before the disappearance, Galen had, rather cryptically at the time, told Bodhi that if something happened, he must speak to the seers. It had confused him at the time, but now, for some reason Jyn's appearance in their kitchen had those words churning in his mind again.

"Would Chirrut and Baze know anything?" he asked Cassian.

Cassian paused, frowning slightly, then nodded. "It is possible. They might not be as active in the community as Krennic likes people to be, but then a lot of people also tend to overlook them because of it, so they tend to fly under the radar, and pick up on a lot of things people don't realize that they do."

"Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus?" Jyn asked, her gaze swinging back and forth between the two men.

"You know them?" Bodhi asked.

Jyn shook her head. "No, but their names are on the list of safe contacts that Saw gave me. He said they both know a lot more than they let on publicly, and if I approach them correctly, they'd be willing to help."

Cassian grunted. "Well, Saw is right about that. I can ask Dravin, and my friend can ask Mothma, about what suspicions or evidence they might have regarding your father's disappearance, but what is your ultimate goal here, Jyn?"

"Find out if my father is alive or dead, find out what happened that night, and if he is alive, find him," Jyn said firmly. "And if I can help topple Krennic from power, that too."

Bodhi and Cassian exchanged a look. "I think," Cassian said, "We can all agree we want Krennic off the Council. If we can produce evidence he had a hand in your father's disappearance, that should accomplish that. It's finding that evidence that will be the tricky part."

"I've got keys to my father's place," Jyn said, "But I don't want to be seen around there in human form, and I can't use keys in Cait Sith form. 

"Can't you just pop in like you did here?" Bodhi asked.

Jyn shook her head. "My father had his place warded against Fae. Not all fae are nice."

Bodhi tapped his fingers on the table. "Technically," he said slowly. "Your father had a letter on file saying I was to set things in order if anything ever happened to him, and I'm sure he was something somewhere in the house about contacting you. I've only been over there once, since Krennic had it blocked up as a crime scene for months, but he's technically released the place from custody, so I can go over and let you in."

"There's an obvious answer here that none of you silly humans has considered," Kay said in a faintly waspish tone. Jyn shot a look at him, then her brows rose up and Bodhi assumed they were communicating silently again. How did they even do that?

"Really?" Jyn asked in tones of disbelief.

Kay shrugged. "It would make the most sense, Cait Sith," he told her. "And it would allow you to accompany Bodhi everywhere he went if necessary, making it far easier for you to observe and hear what he finds out without having to hide from Krennic."

Various emotions flickered over the Cait Sith's face, too fast for Bodhi to read them, then she looked considerately at him. "So hide in plain sight?" she asked Kay.

"Isn't that what I already suggested?" Kay asked rhetorically.

Bodhi felt a bit of concern wash over him at the way that Cait Sith and Imp were eying him. Cassian frowned just a moment, then looked understanding and nodded. "That's actually a fairly good idea, Kay," he congratulated his Imp.

"Someone want to tell me what's going on?" Bodhi demanded.

"Simple, I pretend to be your familiar," Jyn told him. When Bodhi's brow creased, she continued. "You're less than six months to the end of your apprenticeship, so the timing for you to take a familiar is perfect, and it isn't as if familiars can't live separately from their witches, or vise versa, or even separate lives. As long as the two get together to perform rituals and spells it works." She shrugged. "And actually I'm not in a bad position to act as your familiar, even temporarily, so you wouldn't even be pretending. We don't have to form a permanent witch-familiar bond if we don't want to."

Bodhi chewed on his lip, thinking it over. She wasn't wrong. It was coming close to time for him to seek out a familiar if he was going to bond with one. They had a shared basis already, knowing Jyn's father, and having a Cait Sith for a familiar, well, it was likely Jyn would be more powerful than most common familiars.

"So we form a temporary familiar-witch bond while we investigate your father's disappearance?"

"Precisely," she agreed.

Bodhi gave Cassian a questioning look, and the Warlock shrugged. "I'm actually inclined to agree with her," he said. "I can't bond with her, I already have a familiar, but you can, and you knew Galen personally. While I meet up with Dravin and my contacts, you and Jyn can investigate what's left at Galen's home, and speak with Baze and Chirrut." He frowned a little. "I think we're also going to need to check the workshop where Galen was working when he disappeared, but we'll have to be careful so as not to alert Krennic. If we can put together what happened that night, then we can figure what Galen's fate. I think we need to know that before we make any further plans."

Jyn looked a little unhappy, but she nodded her agreement. She shot a glance at Kay. "Think you can put up with me for awhile?"

The Imp regarded her and sighed. "I suppose I can. Better you than some of the other options Bodhi could have as a familiar. At least you are intelligent."

Jyn bit back a smile. Cassian was eying his him and the Cait Sith and already wondering if the two of them interacting was a good idea or not, but at this point he supposed he no longer really had a choice in the matter. "If that is the plan then, today I suggest I meet with my friend first about meeting with Mothma, and you two go and take a look at Galen's house."

"Another cup of tea first," Jyn said, holding up her empty mug. 

Kay dropped from Cassian's shoulder and landed on the table, peering into his also empty mug. "I am in agreement with the cat," he announced. "More tea first, then we can deal with this mess."

Cassian could only sigh and wonder at the chaos his life would undoubtedly be filled with for the next few weeks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassian goes information hunting.
> 
> And yes I know Draven is a total asshole in the movie. For some reason he turned out nice in this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars.
> 
> Find me on tumblr @serstolas

A single night under the safe roof, and Jyn and Kay were already spending most of their time trading snarky insults. At least Cassian thought they were, based on the expression he saw often on the Cait Sith's face and the Imp's face. For whatever reason, the two familiars seemed to be communicating silently, almost mind to mind. Cassian had heard rumors that familiars could often mind-speak to each other, but he'd never actually witnessed it before.

With Jyn and Kay he swore he'd already gotten his fill of it.

Jyn had spent the night on the living room couch, advising Cassian and Bodhi she was perfectly comfortable sleeping there and didn't need a bed. Cassian didn't had a guest room anyway, so it was either an air mattress or the couch. 

Cassian and Bodhi had some fairly heavy warding on their house, so Jyn and Kay advised them it was safe enough for Jyn to maintain her human form in the house or the garden, but she promised both witches that if she left the house she would take her cat form to remain on the safe side and help keep Krennic from finding out about her. She'd already started filling the role of familiar for Bodhi, helping him augment his power when he was in the garden the first afternoon, working with spells to enhance plant growth so he could harvest the necessary ingredients for a potion someone had ordered. The plants had grown to the necessary size from seedlings in less than an hour, almost half the time it took Bodhi normally to enhance them.

Kay had seemed particularly smug about the whole thing.

That evening Cassian sent a coded message to Draven, requesting a meeting via Wisp. The message, from the surface, looked to be just a request to meet regarding some innocuous spellwork research Cassian had been working on in case the message was intercepted. In reality it had been written in a specific code that Draven's own mentor had created years ago, and one that had only been taught by either his mentor or Draven himself to a select few people. 

That was how Cassian found himself walking the following morning towards the magi transportation depot where he could use a _Lacus_ spell to move from the depot closes to his home to the one closet to Draven's. Centuries ago witches and supernatural creatures had established a series of hubs and depots along various ley lines, lines that crossed the earth where energy had a tendency to gather, where it was far either to use a transportation spell like _Lacus_ to move from one spot to another. 

Kay, invisible to mundane eyes via natural abilities, was draped around Cassian's neck as he walked to the depot and waited his turn to use the point. Bodhi and Jyn were back at the house, Jyn helping Bodhi with a few spells this morning before they went to see Baze and Chirrut that afternoon. If it had been any other stranger, Cassian thought, he might not have trusted them to remain in his home, but something told him instinctively that he could trust Jyn, and something had clicked instantly between her and Bodhi.

"Natural Witch-Familiar compatibility," Kay hummed in Cassian's ear, as if reading his warlock's thoughts. "Bodhi and Jyn had a 87.5% chance of forming a permanent witch-familiar bond. Jyn is unusual in that she is both fae and part witch, but because her baseline is Cait Sith and she can transform, she is an excellent match as a familiar to Bodhi. And since Witch-Familiar bonds are rarely romantic, even if most familiars can take on a human shape, it is unlikely to present any sort of problems in either Bodhi or Jyn dating someone else."

"Why would I be particularly concerned with who Jyn is dating?" Cassian asked. He didn't ask the same question about Bodhi, because Bodhi was his friend and apprentice so of course he might be concerned if Bodhi was dating someone unpleasant. 

Kay gave him patient look. Cassian continued to let the question hang in the air as he stepped up to the transportation point, cast the _Lacus_ spell under his breath, and watched the world momentarily melt away around him as if made of hot wax, and then reform to the transportation point a few blocks from Draven's home.

"Still not sure what you mean," Cassian added as he stepped off the transportation point and began tracing his way towards Draven's home.

"Do not think I did not notice the attraction you have towards Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor," Kay scolded lightly. "She is brilliant, if perhaps unconventional, and pretty by human standards, so I am not surprised you find her attractive, so there is no point pretending otherwise."

Cassian was too well trained to flush, but he didn't correct Kay.

He paused when he reached a smart looking, three story brick townhouse and rapped on the front door twice, waiting for Draven to answer. The sharp noised, brown haired witch answered the door a moment later and jerked his head to indicate for Cassian to follow him into the kitchen. Upon reaching the room he thrust a cup of coffee with salted caramel creamer into Cassian's hands and sat at the butcher block kitchen table.

Blunt as always, Draven regarded Cassian and said, "So you want to talk about a new lead on Erso's death?"

So used to Draven's manner was Cassian by now that he simply took the seat across from the older man and nodded, explaining the situation with Jyn's appearance and suspicions. 

"Hmph. Knew the man had a daughter, suspected she was fey but Erso never confirmed it," Draven remarked when Cassian was done. He frowned deeply. "Galen Erso and I did not always get along, but I agree with many that the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and apparent death are very strange. There aren't many of us that will express our suspicion of foul play aloud, but there are many who do not like how quickly things were swept up." 

The man drained his coffee cup and stared a hole into the empty cup for a long moment. Finally he met Cassian's eyes, his gaze grim. "Here's what I do know, Cassian. Galen Erso always preferred to work on defensive magics, things like wards, booby traps, that sort of thing. But he had...has the knowledge needed to create dangerous offensive spells as well. When Krennic first arrived in town a few years ago, he approached Galen about creating a weapon. Erso, of course, refused, because he did not wish to see his work used to harm other people unless absolutely necessary, and he abhorred the idea of killing people with spellwork. Every single defensive spell he ever created was designed to incapacitate, not kill."

Kay perked up a moment from his spot on Cassian's shoulder and frowned. Draven caught the moment and a moment later a crow flew into the room, landing on Draven's shoulder and pecked at the man's hair a moment. Cassian recognized Draven's familiar General. Cassian waited, tense as he watched the crow and older witch.

"General thought she saw something outside," Draven said at last, unbending only a little. "But she says the wards will block anyone from hearing what we say if they try. I think it might be best if you stay for lunch after we finish talking, perhaps join me in my workshop for a bit."

Cassian tilted his head. "Why don't we go to the workshop now?" he suggested. He knew the workshop would be even more heavily warded than the house.

Draven nodded and nodded for Cassian to finish his coffee. A few minutes later, the two men entered Draven's top floor, a heavily warded workshop that took up the entire third floor of his home. After checking the windows, Draven pulled out a book and set it on a tabletop as he began speaking again. Kay slid off Cassian's shoulder, going to poke at a row of containers containing various potion supplies as Cassian joined Draven at the desk. General settled on her perch in the corner of the room and appeared to take a nap.

"I know that Krennic approached Galen several times over the next few years about a weaponized spell, and Galen refused every time," Draven told the younger warlock. "The night that Galen vanished, there are rumors that Krennic went to see him, but of course the witnesses have either changed their stories, or seem to have forgotten about that night all together."

"Memory altering spells or potions?" Cassian guessed.

"Possibly," Draven replied. "Or they were threatened into forgetting what they saw. But I had very a very reliable source that Krennic visited Galen around dinner that evening. I haven't been able to find anyone willing to speak publicly about it to make any accusations, and Krennic is not exactly fond of me so I've had to be careful about who I'm seen talking to." he met Cassian's gaze again. "I can tell you though that two hours after Krennic visited Galen Erso, there was a spell explosion at the Erso home. Nothing that Erso was working on recently should have created an explosion like that...he was working on communication spells, not anything volatile."

"You think Krennic planted something there, to get rid of Erso because he refused?" Cassian said.

Draven scowled. "More or less. Krennic's been watching me too closely for me to be able to go back to the site to investigate though."

Cassian frowned. "How do we get access to the site?"

"Krennic has to be distracted enough that he and his troopers, as he calls them, won't be aware anyone's sneaking to the site," Draven told him. "It will require whoever is going to the site to be stealthy, but it will also require a distraction somewhere."

"Can you help with that, or someone else?" Cassian inquired.

Draven smiled faintly. "I can't, but you know who can."

"Mothma," Cassian nodded. "I suspected I'd need to go to her, but I can't directly. I'll need to do it through a go between. Leia, I was thinking."

Draven nodded. "That would be a good one. With Leia as Mothma's apprentice, no one would think twice about her speaking to Mothma. Mothma has enough political pull she can get a meeting to keep Krennic occupied organized." Dravne paused a moment, looking thoughtful. "I cannot do anything directly, but I may be able to get in contact with someone who could create a distraction to keep the troopers occupied."

"May be safer if I communicate to you going forward about this through Mothma," Cassian said slowly. "We can meet once or twice more, people will believe generally we're working on spell work, but we don't want to meet too often with Krennic watching you."

"When you speak to Leia, give her the code word Dantooine," Draven advised him. "Mothma will know what to do from there and hwo to organize everything." Draven turned back to the book, a tome on transportation spells and other planes, Cassian noticed. "Now, we'll spend an hour or so going over this, just in case anyone does ever ask what you were doing here today."

Cassian was fairly certain he already knew most of what was Draven's book, but he reluctantly agreed. Kay merely gave the warlock a knowing look, then curled around a jar of bay leaves, settling in to take a nap of his own.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bodhi takes Jyn to meet Baze and Chirrut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars or Rogue One

When Bodhi informed Jyn that morning that he would be waiting until that afternoon before leaving to visit Baze and Chirrut so that he and Cassian weren't necessarily seen leaving to meet with people at the same time, she decided not to argue. She thought he might be a bit overly cautious, but given the rumors of Krennic's spies everywhere, she decided to go along with his caution. She could not risk Krennic finding out about her right now, not before she had a chance to discover what had happened to her father and bring his killer to justice.

Jyn knew in her bones that foul play was behind her father's disappearance, and she suspected Krennic was firmly behind it. It was possible he might have orchestrated the disappearance through minions, but he definitely had something to do with it. All of her instincts, both mundane and magical, were screaming it.

She was in the workroom with Bodhi, idly reading through a spell book while Bodhi dutifully crushed herbs and mixed liquids to create potions. Most of them were fairly normal - potions for health, luck, protection, or beauty type options that promised clear skin and luxurious hair. They weren't the sort of thing that drew large amounts of money, but they were popular enough that they drew a steady income.

"I'm far more concerned with steady work and being able to maintain a wage than making large amounts of money in spurts," Bodhi advised her as he worked a particularly tough herb with his mortar and pestle. "And I absolutely refuse to brew anything that threatens a person's autonomy. Love potions are bunk to begin with, you can't force someone to fall in love with you."

"But you can stir physical lust," Jyn noted, her legs swinging back and forth in front of her stool. "Some people asking for love potions are just desperate, but desperation is no excuse for messing with someone else's free will. It's just as bad as what Krennic is trying to do in some ways, control people through fear."

Bodhi lifted his brow eyes and met her green gaze, nodding once in agreement. Over the past twenty four hours he'd discovered the two of them agreed on a lot of things. It made a temporary witch-familiar bond easier, if nothing else. He tapped the white granite pestle on the side of the mortar and set it down before carefully moving the ground herb into a potion vile. "You're right, it is. That's why we have to stop him."

"How much help do you think Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus will be?" Jyn asked, her eyes now back on the spell book. Bodhi noticed that she was moving quickly through it, and based on Galen's descriptions of his daughter, he wouldn't be surprised if Jyn had already memorized at least a fourth of the spells from a basic read through of the spell book. 

"More than Krennic suspects," he replied. "They might not have specific information, but I know Baze and Chirrut have one of the best information networks in the city, completely unknown to Krennic. They'll know about any recent activity around Galen's home. They should be able to tell us who’s been there recently and give us an idea of what they might have been doing, and they can also help us plan the best time to sneak in."

"Good." Jyn paused half way through the leather bound spell book and glanced at the analog clock on the wall. "Bout time to go?"

Bodhi suppressed a smile, not surprised she was impatient. "Let me finish this potion and we can gather our things."

Half an hour later, Bodhi and Jyn stood in the living room, preparing to step out to visit Baze and Chirrut. Bodhi had his wand stashed up his sleeve and a few potions in carefully spelled bottles stashed in the pockets of his cargo pants and another one or two in the pockets of his jacket. He regarded Jyn's tactile pants, long sleeve henney, vest, and scarf his curious eyes. "Jyn, what happens to the things you wear when you are shapeshifted? Can you carry things in your pockets?"

Jyn considered the question a moment. "They sort of go into a pocket dimension I guess, or betwixt and between? I mean, I've carried things in my Cat form before, if that is what you are asking."

Bodhi nodded, slipping a slim spell book into an inner jacket pocket, then took three potions a nearby table and handed them to her. "Two are healing, one's a protection spell against energy. Might be useful. And do you have your wand?"

Jyn accepted the potions and slid them into the pockets of her vest. She snorted slightly at his question. "I'm more of a familiar than a witch, Bodhi, I don't have a wand, and what magic I do use is typically wandless."

Bodhi looked impressed but didn't remark further. He checked the front door then gave her an expectant look. Jyn huffed, then slowly began to shrink on herself until she was in her cat form once again. With incredible grace, she leapt up onto Bodhi's shoulder and settled herself comfortable there. Bodhi shifted a moment, getting used to the weight, before he opened the front door and stepped outside. After securing the front door, he glanced around.

The street appeared more or less deserted, but his instincts told him there was something, or someone out there, watching. He made a note of it as Jyn hissed softly against his ear. Automatically he reached up to scratch her under the chin as he began the walk towards Baze and Chirrut's place. He had excuse enough to go, since Baze and Chirrut maintained quite a greenhouse of herbs and magical plants, and they were actually within walking distance of Bodhi and Cassian's home.

Jyn and Bodhi both remained on alert as they walked through the streets, keeping to themselves but for the occasionally wave to a passerby, both mundane and otherwise. They could both sense they were being followed, but all anyone, even another witch, would see was an apprentice witch and his potential familiar. Nearly three blocks away, they both felt the presence shift away from them, and Bodhi silently let out a breath of relief. He felt Jyn butt her head against his own in agreement. One more block and they reached Baze and Chirrut's home.

A pale yellow sign with dark green writing and ivy vines etched into the material proclaimed the shop to be "The Dew Drop: Plant Emporium." The storefront, originally a residential brick home, had a large greenhouse attached to one side of it. From what Bodhi understood, this was a part of the city that, not long after the battles with the pure bloods two decades ago, had been largely abandoned when Baze and Chirrut bought their home and a few surrounding properties. They'd then gotten city permission, and Council permission, to knock down and clear away some of the surrounding houses and build their attached greenhouse. Other homes in the area, a few years after the Dew Drop opened, had been bought by some local witches and even some mundanes aware of witches, in part due to feeling safe with the Dew Drop around.

Bodhi knew that the front half of the house was given over to the shop, but the second story and back of the house served as Baze and Chirrut's home, and Bodhi's own childhood home. He pushed the front door open and stepped into the well-lit store, Jyn balanced carefully on his shoulder.

Baze stood behind the counter, carefully reviewing an accounting book when Bodhi stepped in. The bearded man regarded Bodhi for merely a moment before coming out from behind the counter and enveloping Bodhi in a hug. Bodhi gladly returned the embrace. 

"Been awhile since you visited your uncles," Baze scolded in his rumbling voice. Bodhi's family had been a line of mundanes who were vaguely aware of the existence of magic, but uncomfortable with it. When Bodhi's powers had manifested at puberty, his rather frightened parents had contacted the Mundane Ambassador on the council, a position that no longer existed under Krennic, and requested a more proper placement for their child. 

It had stung deeply at the time, but when Baze and Chirrut had taken Bodhi in, Bodhi had quickly found himself more comfortable around his new family than he had been around his old. 

"And who is this?" Baze's eyes zeroed in on Jyn, narrowing faintly. "Not just a familiar I see. Hello to you, Jyn Erso." 

Jyn mewed in surprise, shifting a nervous look at Bodhi.

"Well Galen always said they could see through anything," Bodhi replied with a half shrug. "But I can vouch, Jyn, my Uncles are trustworthy."

Baze was moving towards the door as Bodhi reassured Jyn, flipping the sign in the front window to "Closed and gestured for Bodhi to come further into the house. "Chirrut's in the greenhouse, he'll be in within a few, but I suspect you two are here for a reason." He paused partway through the entry way into the house and looked at Jyn. "This place is warded if you want to shift," he told her.

Jyn gave Bodhi a questioning Mew and he nodded. "If he says it’s warded it is. Chirrut has always been more subtle in his magic than most, so most witches wouldn't even notice the warding."

Jyn jumped off Bodhi's shoulder, shifting smoothly and quickly mid jump, landing in a crouch on the floor just behind Baze. She gave the big man a cautious smile. "Thank you. It's far easier to talk in this form."

Baze nodded in understanding and lead his nephew and Jyn into the kitchen, putting a kettle on the stove and gestured for them to settle at the kitchen table. He'd set four cups on the counter when Chirrut came in. Though he clearly could not see, he moved effortlessly through the room as if by some sixth sense, pausing behind Bodhi's chair to embrace the younger man before settling into a chair at the table. "Introduce us to your familiar," he instructed Bodhi.

Jyn snorted, and Bodhi gave her a look before saying, "Chirrut, Baze, this is my temporary familiar, Jyn Erso, Galen Erso's daughter and Cait Sith. Jyn, these are my uncles Baze and Chirrut."

"Only temporary," Chirrut asked, lifting a brow. "Mm, we will see. The energy between the two of you is very complimentary. Forming a permanent partnership might benefit you both."

Jyn exchanged a look with Bodhi, briefly as if she hadn't considered it before, but then shrugged. "Maybe," she said at last. "Right now I want to find out what happened to my father. I might choose to stay, if Bodhi and Cassian are amiable."

Bodhi gave her a faint smile. "If nothing else, this gives us a chance to see how we work together."

"But you aren't here to discuss long term plans," Chirrut sighed. "Next time you visit it best be for pleasure and not business, Bodhi. But you two want to know about Galen Erso's home."

"Wise of you to come to us," Baze rumbled as he pulled the now hissing kettle off the stove and poured hot water for their tea. "Go ahead and ask."

"We need to be able to sneak into Galen's home to investigate the scene," Bodhi told them. "And we need to know when the best time to do so is."

"We always want to know who’s been in and out of there since my father vanished," Jyn added.

Baze sat heavily in his chair after handing out tea cups. "For all that it is supposedly off limits, some of Krennic's cronies have definitely been there in the past few months," he told them. "For the first month or two they slipped in and out frequently. No one's been inside in the past month and a half, though they still keep watch on the place."

"Mm, yes. They performed their own 'investigation' back after Galen first vanished, but since then they have not found much," Chirrut put in. 

"How do you two keep tabs on Galen's house anyway?" Jyn asked, curious.

"Wisps and nature spirits," Chirrut explained. "Baze and I specialize in plants. There are tree spirits that reside in some of the larger trees in the area near your father's house, and they will pass information to other spirits for us for the right price."

"Usually spells to help with nourishment," Baze said. "A lot of Krennic's men seem to ignore wisps, because they're such 'lowly' creatures. Wisps aren't very smart, but they are very observant, and can give me a pretty good picture of what's been physically going on around the house."

"Well, that tells us a bit of what we suspected," Bodhi replied as he glanced at Jyn. "They're definitely watching the place...it may be tricky getting in."

"You certainly aren't going in just the four of you," Chirrut told them firmly. "Baze and I are going with you."

Baze sighed lightly, totally not surprised with Chirrut's words. "Since where my husband goes, I follow. Through the tree spirits and wisps we can find out their pattern. Give us a few days and we can tell you the best time to go in." His brow creased. "Though it would help if there was something else going on at the same time just in case, a distraction."

Jyn chewed on her lower lip. "Cassian is talking to Draven today, then he plans on meeting with Leia Organa to see if Mon Mothma can help. If you can get us the patterns, then maybe he can work with Leia and Mon Mothma to create a distraction that would help keep Krennic's eyes elsewhere while we sneak in."

Baze and Chirrut considered a moment, then Baze nodded. "I think it could work."

"I agree," Chirrut mused. "It also gives us time to plan and prepare defensive and offensive measures to take with us, things to keep us safe, things to help us investigate, and things to help fight back should we encounter resistance."

Jyn sagged a little in relief in her chair, and Bodhi moved his closer to her, pressing his shoulder reassuringly against hers. "We'll get this figured out Jyn," he promised.

"We will," Chirrut agreed. "Now, perhaps we can plan a bit, and you two can join us for lunch."

Jyn paused for just a moment and looked between the three, then found herself answering with one of her first real smiles in months. "We'd be glad to," she agreed, sensing Bodhi's approval through the temporary familiar-witch bond.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bodhi, Jyn, Kay, and Cassian meet up and discuss all they'd found out, and plan the next step in their investigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars
> 
> Italics indicate telepathic communication.

Chirrut vanished back into the greenhouse sometime after finishing lunch, leaving Jyn and Bodhi to help Baze straighten up the kitchen afterwards. As Bodhi put away the last of the clean dishes, Baze pulled Jyn aside and handed her an older looking cellphone model, more like a brick than the fancy smart phones that were so popular these days.  She gave him a questioning look.  

"It's exactly what it looks like," the big man told her.  "Krennic doesn't trust mundanes or their technology, though a few of his followers do use it.  That's less likely to get hacked than a newer phone, and it's practically indestructible.  My number is programed into it, both our landline and my cellphone.  You could use Cassian and Bodhi's landline, yes they have one, but I think this may be a safer bet.  It's also one of the few phones that hasn't shown any interference from magic."

Jyn regarded the phone for a moment before sliding the Nokia into a vest pocket.  "Saw had one of those," she remarked.  "He always said sometimes mundane technology is safer than magic."

"Less likely to be intercepted by Krennic, if nothing else," Baze agreed.  "You and Bodhi be careful.  Chirrut's already fond of you, and we'd rather not have something happen to you two."

She smiled.  "We will, Baze."

She returned to her cat form as Bodhi appeared to say his goodbyes to Baze and settled on his shoulder, phone stored away safely in case of future emergency.

~~~

That evening, Jyn, Bodhi, Cassian, and Kay gathered in Cassian and Bodhi's work room after dinner to discuss their findings from that day's investigations. Jyn could tell as she stepped across the threshold that, like most witch homes, the workroom was more heavily warded than the rest of the house. She felt safer inside the wards of Bodhi and Cassian's home than she did outside, but here in the workshop, she felt more than just safe, she felt almost at home. It was an interesting sensation, one she hadn't had since the last time she'd seen Saw.

The workroom and its wards fairly vibrated with the signature of Cassian and Bodhi's magics, and that energy felt warm against Jyn's skin, like being wrapped in a comfortable blanket after being out in a cold afternoon. Part of it, she guessed, was because of how she and Bodhi complimented each other, but that didn't explain her reaction to Cassian's own power.

She shook her head as she took a seat on an empty stool against the wall, watching as Cassian and Bodhi went through a few basic motions of checking projects they'd been working on before they turned to her. Kay, for whatever reason, decided to climb up the wall and deposit himself on Jyn's shoulder, draping his tail around her shoulders as he watched the warlock and witch work.

 _"Is it always like this?"_ Jyn murmured to Kay in curiosity.

 _"Usually,"_ Kay replied after a few moments of watching Cassian jot notes down in a spellbook.  _"They both prefer to get small things that might distract them out of the way before they tackle another problem.  Sometimes I'll move things on them just to see how they react."_

Jyn bit back a chuckle at that comment.  She was saved from responding by Cassian turning to regard her and Kay, and from the look in his brown eyes she wondered if he knew what she had Kay had been talking about.

"So what did you find out at Draven's?" Jyn asked, forestalling any questions from Cassian. 

Cassian's look told her he knew exactly what she was doing, but he took a seat on another stool near his work station and answered.  "You know your father worked mainly on protective magics and spells, yes?"  At Jyn's nod, he continued.  "According to Draven, because he had the power to also create weapons, Krennic approached him a few months ago about developing just such a weapon, though why I'm not entirely sure.  Your father refused, and Krennic began to harass him as a result."

Bodhi frowned.  "You know, there were rumors, a few years ago, I took it as gossip at the time, but there was a group of witches that wanted to preemptively strike at mundanes who they felt were a threat to the magical and supernatural community.  They evidently had some elaborate list of what they constituted as 'threatening.'"

"That's not that far from some of the things certain people Krennic's been rumored to have associated with have suggested," Jyn put in.  Her brows were creased as she recalled some things Saw had told her.  "A lot of people have never taken Saw's conspiracy theories seriously, but he shared most of them with me.  He said there have typically always been four general thoughts about how our community should deal with mundanes: reveal ourselves and try and live in peace, keep ourselves completely hidden, generally hide ourselves but be willing to deal with mundanes who find out about us and live in peace with them, and those who see mundanes as a threat no matter what.  Saw said Krennic fell into that fourth category."

"So you think Krennic may have wanted to have your father develop a weapon to use against mundanes?" Bodhi asked.

"Maybe," Jyn shrugged.  "It makes about as much sense as anything else."

"Not just that," Cassian said.  "Draven said that Krennic definitely visited Galen Erso the night he vanished, and he had been harassing your father.  Not just that, but his plan would have gone directly against your father's theory in dealing with mundanes."

"Add to the fact that Baze and Chirrut told us while my father's house is off limits, Krennic's men have been in and out of the place during the last few months..." Jyn's words trailed off.

"There's a lot of at least circumstantial evidence pointing to Krennic being involved in Galen's disappearance," Bodhi finished for her.  He glanced at Cassian.  "Baze and Chirrut offered to keep an eye on the house and tell us when the best time to investigate the site of Galen's disappearance would be. They also said they'd be coming with us."

"Risky, if Krennic's men have been in and out of the place," Cassian mused.

"There may be more we are missing," Jyn said.  "What about Mon Mothma?"

"Haven't met with her yet, but Draven said she could help, though I need to connect to her through her apprentice," Cassian said.

"Do you think she and her apprentice could help with organizing some kind of distraction, something that would keep Krennic and his thugs' attention while we snuck into my father's place?" Jyn asked.  "If it weren't for Krennic I'd just ask to go see it, as his heir, but something tells me letting Krennic know I'm here, or any of his followers, is a very bad idea."

"If it helps her take Krennic down and find justice for Erso, yes," Cassian said.  "Though I can't approach her directly.  Too many possible eyes.  Her apprentice, though, gives us a good in.  Leia Organa is an old friend of mine, and I can easily arrange a meeting, and even bring Bodhi with me."

"Where Bodhi goes, I'm following," Jyn informed him.

Bodhi snorted and Cassian smiled.  "I expected nothing less."  He sighed.  "It may be a day or two before Leia can meet with us, but I'll send a Wisp to her tonight.  Once we set up a meeting, we can see what she and Mothma know, and what kind of help they may be able to offer."

"I still think the key to my father's disappearance lies in the ruins of his house," Jyn told the warlock and witch.  "I remember before my mother died, one of the old houses we lived in had a hidden room, and I'd be willing to bet money that his current house does too."

"And if he has something hidden there..." Bodhi looked thoughtful.  "That matches some of the offhand remarks your father's made."

Cassian tilted his head.  "So we meet with Leia and Mothma, see what they know, and see if they can organize a distraction.  Once we've investigated the house, we can see if we can meet up with them again, and go from there."

Jyn fidgeted a little.  "I don't know if I want to wait that long to see what's at my father's house."

"Mothma may know more about Krennic wanted from him though," Cassian raised his brows.  "Do really want to go in potentially unprepared."

"It's Mon Mothma," Jyn argued.  "We don't even know how many days beyond the initial meeting with Leia it will take to meet with the Councilwoman."

The warlock and cait sith stood there not quite glaring at each other, but close.  Bodhi felt a nervous energy building in the room as Jyn and Cassian eyed each other before he decided to interrupt the staring contest.  "Cassian, you can code your message in the Wisp to Leia, right?"

"He can," Kay answered from Jyn's shoulder.  He climbed across her neck until he perched on her other shoulder and regarded Cassian.  "I believe, my Warlock, that your apprentice may have an idea?"

Cassian arched a brow at Bodhi, and the other man swallowed then said, "Send a coded message to Leia, tip her off that we want to investigate the, er, ruins, then see how she responds.  Maybe she has access to some of the same information Mothma does, or she can ask Mothma, and pass on word to us when she meets with us.  It'll still be a day or two, but it sometimes takes a week or more to set up meetings with Mothma, and I have a feeling waiting a week may be too long."

"I have to agree," Jyn and Kay said in unison.  Cassian eyed the familiars and their synchronization, but he had to admit they all had a good point.

"Alright," he said at last.  "I'll have to craft the message carefully, Wisps aren't the smartest creatures, and Kay I'll need your help, but we may be able to get something from Leia before we go investigate the house.  We can still set up a meeting with Mothma, and take a look into the house in the meantime."

Jyn might not be entirely satisfied, Cassian thought, but he could tell from the change in her expression that she and Kay must be communicating telepathically again.  Finally, she grimaced and nodded.  "I want to go to my father's home right now and investigate, but you and Bodhi and Kay make some good points.  I can wait a day or two, but I cannot wait a week."

"Fair enough," Cassian gave his own nod.  "I'll try and get the meeting with Leia set up as quickly as I can."

Bodhi watched with some interest as Cassian offered her a hand, and after a moment, Jyn accepted it, clasping their hands together.  Kay looked smugly satisfied as he hoped from Jyn's shoulder to Cassian's.

Bodhi was fairly certain he would never understand familiars.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn idly considers what she might do after all this is over, Bodhi considers what it might be like to actually have a familiar, Cassian finds himself fond of their new housemate, and they finally meet with Leia.

The next few days were relatively quiet. No matter how much Jyn might wish to go and hunt down her father now, Saw had taught her the value of patience and waiting for the right time. There was a vague plan in place, but there pieces that still needed to be confirmed before they could move forward. So she spent the next few days working with Bodhi in the garden and the workshop in tasks rather similar to the first day she'd worked with him, encouraging plants to grow, strengthening certain properties in certain herbs, and watching him brew a number of potions. The second day of waiting she'd returned to her cat form and rode on Bodhi's shoulder for another visit to Chirrut and Baze's home to collect a series of plants that Bodhi and Cassian didn't have in their garden. Jyn made a mental note of the various plants Bodhi used most, things like Calendula and Stinging Nettle in healing potions, or sage and others in potions of protection.

The role of a familiar for a witch was really to just enhance a witch's natural talents and lend additional power. A witch and familiar had to share similar skills and types of power to really click. Jyn, with her fae heritage, was very much tied to plants and things in nature, and most of Bodhi's talents tended towards nature as well. Jyn concluded that she and Bodhi worked quite well together, and honestly found herself enjoying the days she spent working with him, and the evenings around the dinner table spending time with him, Cassian, and Kay.

The energy in this house was different from Saw's. Saw had always been paranoid, incredibly smart and talented, but paranoid, so most of the people that Jyn had dealt with growing up were the very few that Saw had trusted to come to their home. Most of her interactions with others had taken place at gatherings that Saw had taken her to, verses at the house. She hadn't originally thought that living with three other beings instead of just one could make such a difference, but it did. The paranoia that followed Saw lead to a certain secretive and occasionally smothering air around the house she'd lived in with him. It hadn't been bad, but sometimes she felt like a shut in during the days Saw deemed it wasn't safe enough to venture out.

Even though she was spending most of her time here in Cassian and Bodhi's house and the wards here were as strong or perhaps stronger than the ones around Saw's home, she never felt that smothering sensation she'd occasionally felt at Saw's. There was more life in Cassian and Bodhi's house. Perhaps she shouldn't let herself feel this way, but she felt very much at home here, and by the fourth day, thoughts of what it might be like to live here permanently occasionally crept into her mind.

Bodhi, for his part, found working with a familiar made certain processes easier, and he was fairly certain the potions he'd brewed in the past few days were stronger than what he'd brewed in the past. Jyn switched back and forth between her human and cat form, depending on her mood, but he could feel her magic, a steady presence, there the entire time he worked. Not only that, he could feel when his magic and hers combined in the process of spells and potion brewing. They traded occasionally jokes as he worked, and the time passed far quicker than it normally did. Jyn was cautious and snarky, but he could understand those qualities, and shared her caution when dealing with others he didn't know. 

She told him a few stories about growing up with saw, and one thing he picked up on immediately that was while she was cautious, she was not as paranoid as Saw. She judged someone based on information available and information learned, not only the rumors that she'd heard. Saw certainly had reasons to be paranoid, but Jyn quietly confinded in Bodhi that sometimes she wondered how much of that paranoia was because of Saw's own actions in the past.

If they survived all of this, Bodhi made a mental note to talk to Jyn about the possibility of permanently bonding as witch and familiar after the dust had settled. It was not a decision they could make lightly, but if the past few days were any indication, he thought they'd work well together and make a good bond.

Cassian for his part found Jyn to be very sharp minded. She easily picked up on complex spell concepts that he discussed with Bodhi, and occasionally voiced her own opinion on it. She hadn't received the same kind of formalized training that Bodhi and Cassian had, and he wondered sometimes if she'd received more formal training as a child if she might be just as strong a witch as she was a familiar.

Even more interest, Kay seemed fond of her. Bodhi and Cassian had both gotten used to overhearing snarky quips between the two familiars over the past few days. The two egged each other on or came up with creative insults to call each other, but there was no actual bite or malice behind it. Those quips made the work day feel lighter, less long, and Cassian thought he could get used to that sort of thing in his daily routine.

One morning while Bodhi and Jyn were in the garden and Cassian was transcribing spells, Kay inelegantly dropped onto of the book he was copying from and blinked his large black eyes at the warlock. "You find the Cait Sith attractive," Kay announced in his usual, blunt way.

Cassian cocked an eyebrow at the shadow imp, managing not to blush at all, he was proud of himself for that, but he'd come to the same conclusion Kay had a day or two ago himself. It didn't have to mean anything, but he liked Jyn. "She is aesthetically pleasing, yes," he admitted. 

Kay gave a snort. "You find her attractive not just physically, Warlock," he told his partner. "You find her mind attractive as well. You like her."

Cassian sighed, knowing that Kay wasn't going to be pried away from the book until he admitted it. "Yes, Kay, I do. I think if we were given longer to know each other I could grow to be very fond of her. Not something I can do much about right now though."

Kay inclined his head, then hopped from the book onto Cassian's shoulder, draping his tail around the Warlock's neck. "No, but perhaps after all of this is over, you may."

"Maybe," Cassian allowed. "But we all have to survive this first.

Kay merely settled against the warlock and hummed. "I believe," he said calmly, "that the odds are in our favor."

~~ ~~

Early morning on the fifth day, Cassian awoke to find a wisp hovering in his room, with Kay watching it warily, and a message from Leia advising where they could meet later that afternoon. She cautioned him to make it appear as if it was just an ordinary meeting to describe spells, at an address he didn't recognize as either Leia's or Mothma's. 

Jyn and Kay both expressed their concerns that it could be a trap over morning coffee and eggs.

"It could be," Cassian agreed. "It's not an address I'm familiar with. I haven't heard anything about Mothma or Leia being taken into custody or meeting with Krennic, but there's no guarantee that haven't been."

"Baze and Chirrut haven't sent anything to us indicating they have," Bodhi murmured as he passed Jyn the cream for her coffee. "We need to meet with Leia, but the location.." A frown creased his brow. "I think I recognize this address though from something Chirrut mentioned a long time ago, but Ben Kenobi's been a recluse for almost the past two decades."

"Did you say Kenobi?" 

Bodhi nodded as he met Jyn's gaze at her question. "Yes. Kenobi used to maintain a residence here for occasional use, and this address matches it, to the best of my recollection from what Chirrut's told me. There haven't been any rumors of Kenobi coming out of his hermitage though in Tattooine, so I don't know why Leia would ask us to meet her there."

"Ben Kenobi and Leia's father Bail Organa were old friends," Cassian pointed out, "So she might have received permission to use the house for whatever reason."

"So we go in expecting a trap and hoping for the worst," Jyn said, shrugging. "It's a risk we have to take. If we have enough potions and wards up that we spring a trap, at least we can defend ourselves against it."

"As much as I wish to disagree, I believe I must agree with the Cait Sith that we have a 87.5 percent chance of coming out of this meeting in one piece if it is a trap," Kay muttered as he attacked a piece of fruit with his claws. Jyn watched with minor amusement as he took nips of the peach, his claws sinking easily into its soft flesh to hold the fruit still on the table top. 

They spent the morning in preparation, memorizing spells and sorting through potions. Both Bodhi and Cassian pulled their wands from storage in the workroom. Wands typically weren't used in everyday magic, they didn't require it for the most ordinary types of spells, but when more powerful magic was required, the wand served as a useful foci. Wandless magic was common among witches and warlocks, and you usually only saw them pull out wands when something big was about to happen.

They were cautious using the _Lacus_ spell to travel to the closest transportation depot to Kenobi's home. Wands were carefully hidden away up a sleeve or in a boot, and they appeared for all the world like a witch and warlock going to visit friends. Kay perched casually on Cassian's shoulder, tail twitching this way and that to keep his balance, and Jyn in her cat form lay in a foxfur position across Bodhi's shoulders and neck, looking perfectly comfortable as she appeared for all the world to be sleeping.

The address they'd been given stood in an old neighborhood, favored by many of the older generation of witches, maybe five or six blocks from Mothma's own home. The large Tudor style house didn't look abandoned, though it was clear someone had recently weeded the front garden and painted the shutters. Cautiously, Cassian mounted the front steps, Bodhi just a few steps behind, feeling Jyn shift around his neck as she kept watch behind them. Cassian knocked twice, then twice again on the door as Leia's wisp message had instructed, and after a few moments, the door swung open, revealing a woman close to Jyn's own human height, brown hair pulled into an intricate braid around her head, dressed in a long white dress some decades out of fashion. 

Leia Organa smiled brightly at Cassian and gestured for him and Bodhi to come in. "My dear friends, it's so good to see you," she said, cheer in her voice as she ushered them inside and unhurriedly closed the door. As the door swung shut and the lock clicked back into place though, everyone could feel the wards resettle around the house.

With a much more serious expression, Leia said, "In the living room. Sorry about all that, but we needed to be cautious. Someone's been watching Mon Mothma's house for the past week, but no one's paid much attention to Kenobi's old place, so I thought it better to meet here."

"Why Kenobi's place?" Cassian asked as he exchanged a grim glance with Bodhi and followed Leia into the living room.

"That would be my fault," an unknown voice said. Bodhi and Cassian both had their wands out even before Leia could signal that it was safe, pointed at a man with serious blue eyes and shaggy blond hair. 

"Easy, Cassian," Leia told them. "This is my brother, Luke."

That got Jyn's attention, and she was on the floor and in her human form in a flash, eyes almost accusing. "Who is Luke and since when did the Organas have more than one child?"

Leia didn't seem surprised in the slightest at Jyn's transformation and addressed the other woman calmly. "The Organas only have me," she replied. "But I was adopted. Luke was raised by our Mundane uncle and aunt and had no idea he was even a witch until a year ago when Ben Kenobi sought him out."

"Uncle Owen wasn't too pleased," Luke added a little tiredly. "Said he never trusted our father's witchy bloodline or something like that, but Ben insisted if I wasn't trained that I might be a danger to myself and others. Aunt Beru talked some sense into Uncle. They still don't like it, but they admitted it was necessary, and Ben took me as his apprentice."

"You're what, 19?" Jyn asked, her gaze narrowing thoughtfully. "How'd you two get separated?"

"Something to do when our mother and father were killed during the issues with the Superiorists," Leia supplied. "Evidently Ben found Luke but not me and gave him to Uncle Owen to raise. I was taken in by the Organas. We didn't find out about each other until recently when Ben uncovered it." She turned to Cassian, her expression tense, "You should know, Cassian, that this trouble with witches wanting to strike against mundanes isn't isolated. Ben's been tracking Superiorists for the past decade, and there's more of them than just Krennic out there, he's just one part of it."

"What's that got to do with my father's disappearance?" Jyn demanded. Bodhi moved up beside his familiar and pressed a shoulder reassuringly against hers.

Luke grimaced. "Ben thinks Krennic made your father disappear and may be hold him somewhere to try and force him to make...items that the Superiorists can use against Mundanes."

"Are they trying to start a war?" Cassian frowned.

"To put it bluntly, yes," Luke replied.

"Shit." Bodhi met Jyn's gaze. "Guess this just got a helluva lot more complicated."

"You think?" Kay asked sarcastically. 

The room exploded into conversation and people talking over each other until Cassian cut across the chaos. "One problem at a time!"

Everyone paused, regarding the Warlock with varying expressions.

He sighed and resisted the urge to rub his forehead at the headache forming. "Best if we pool our resources," he told Luke and Leia. "Based on what Chirrut and Baze have told us, we think there's something going on under the ruins of Erso's house. We need to get in there, and we need your help. If we can figure out what happened to Erso and find him, so the enemy can't force him to make any weapons, then he can help us with the biggest problem of the Superiorists."

Leia and Luke nodded slowly. "So take care of this one component and remove one threat, then move onto the bigger one," Leia said, nodding with approval. "And maybe you all can find something while looking for Erso that will help Luke, Ben, and I." She gestured for them to take seats in the chairs or on the loveseat. "What do you want, exactly?"

"A distraction," Cassian told her. "Something to keep Krennic busy while we sneak in with Baze and Chirrut."

Jyn swore that Luke and Leia looked almost gleeful at that prospect. 

"Oh," Luke said, "I think we can help with that." He looked at his sister for confirmation. 

"We definitely can," Leia said. "So here's the plan..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With everything falling into place, our Rogue One crew begins their investigation of the Erso House ruins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars. I don't own the Harry Potter universe that this was partially but not completely inspired by. This is just fanfic I'm having fun with
> 
> Also note the change from Separatists to Superiorists in group name.

Late that night, Jyn lay in her human form with her head pillowed on Cassian's thigh on the couch, dozing while the background noise of some murder mystery droned on. Kay was curled up in a ball on her stomach, asleep as far as Cassian could tell, while Cassian flipped halfheartedly through a novel, still digesting everything that Luke and Leia had told them earlier that day. 

It shouldn't surprise me that the Superiorists, the group that had been responsible for his parents' deaths were still active, or that they counted Krennic among their number. Dravin had told him on more than one occasion that not everyone had been satisfied with the outcome of the brief war that had almost engulfed their magical world. There were still some who had muttered under their breaths over the past two decades about how the Superiorists had been right. Malcontent with having to deal with the mundane world and not being able to lord over them or enchant them into being complacent was rife among certain sections of the magical world. 

They had bid their time, slowly building up their support and their plans over the past two decades. The disappearance of Galen Erso was just one small piece of a puzzle, a symptom of a much larger problem. Even if they stopped Krennic and found Jyn's father, rescued her father, there was still another potential war looming. He worried at his lower lip with his teeth as he turned that over in his mind. As far as they'd already come, with what they already knew and had looked into, Cassian knew he wouldn't be able to just go back to an ordinary life once Jyn's father had been rescued, and he rather doubted Bodhi and Jyn would either.

"Mm, what's got you thinking so hard?" Jyn's soft voice filtered into his ears. He shifted his book and looked down at where she lay on his thigh, blue-green eyes a little concerned. 

"Thinking about that Luke and Leia said," he replied. He closed the novel and set it aside, unable to concentrate on the story. Idly, his fingers entangled themselves in Jyn's brown hair without him really noticing. She leaned into the touch, unconsciously purring a little as she did. She continued to look at him in askance and he said, "There's a bigger battle, a bigger war brewing. Krennic isn't alone in his beliefs, and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd received funding and support from somewhere else, enough to make people afraid to look into your father's disappearance. If he's kidnapped your father to make weapons, who wants to use those weapons?"

Jyn turned her head, for a moment pressing her cheek, very catlike, into the fabric of his jeans, almost a soothing gesture. "You're saying once my father is free and safe, you know it won't be over, that we can't just pack up and go home after that." 

Cassian nodded, his fingers stroking her head now. 

"I don't like it, but I have to agree with that thought," Jyn said as she leaned into his touch. "With what we've found out, we won't be able to just forget that there's a bigger threat out there. From what I've heard of Dravin and from what Luke and Leia say of Mothma and Kenobi, they won't either. We're going to have to make a choice, the four of us, on if we will remain on the sidelines, or if we will take part in defending our world from the Superiorists." She gazed knowingly at him. "You won't be able to. You care too much about protecting us, and allowing us to exist in peace. Bodhi won't, and if he won't. Chirrut and Baze won't. And I suppose, if Bodhi won't, I won't either."

"Oh?" Cassian's hand paused briefly in scratching her head and she made a very cat like sound of disappointment before he started again, finding himself scratching behind one of her ears.

"Bodhi and I have formed a good temporary partnership," she said. "And he and I spoke, briefly, about a future possibility of forming a permanent witch-familiar bond. If he's going to be fighting in this war, if you are, then I am too."

An odd sense of relief swept through Cassian and he smiled down at her. "We'll figure it out, and figure out our part in this war after we save your father," he promised her. He continued scratching her head, and in agreement at his words, she let her eyes close and gave herself over to purring at the scratches.

~~~ ~~~

Two and a half days later, they received confirmation via wisp from Luke and Leia that Mothma had set up a meeting with Krennic one night hence. Evidently Kenobi's name had been bandied about as well, and Cassian was utterly certain that would be enough to keep Krennic and most of his lackeys away from the ruins. Baze and Chirrut for their part had confirmed that the best time to sneak in would be during change over of shift watch, around 21:00 hours or so.

Separately, Bodhi and Jyn in her cat form, and then Cassian and Kay traveled to Baze and Chirrut's home the day of their planned excursion. Bodhi had an actual bandoleer of potions hidden beneath his coat and his wand stowed in his boot. Cassian had his own wand stowed up a sleeve. Chirrut carried no wand, but used a staff in its place, one that he used with the excuse that it helped him move about since he was blind. Baze merely nodded when Bodhi asked his uncle if he had his wand. 

With them, Chirrut's familiar, Guardian, an old barn owl, settled on the old witch's shoulder, eyes unblinking as his partner sat meditating in the living room of Baze and Chirrut's home, mentally preparing himself for their mission. Baze's own familiar, a white and tan ferret named Whills curled himself up in one of the pockets of Baze's heavy jacket. Jyn wouldn't be surprised if the large bear of a man had knives and other such weapons hidden about his clothing, and potentially even a mundane gun. He didn't seem the type to trust magic for everything. She wondered, after all this was over, if he might be willing to teach her to shoot.

A nervous tension filled the group as they made their way via _Lacus_ spell to a transportation depot some blocks away from Galen Erso's home. They didn't want to attract too much attention by transporting to the transportation depot closest to the house. Baze sent out an enchanted wisp to keep an eye on the place as they moved quietly through back allies and streets towards the ruins. Chirrut muttered very softly under his breath as they moved, and Jyn could tell the noises they made were being dampened somehow by whatever Chirrut was doing.

They hid behind a large fence on a side street not far from the ruins, Bodhi now passing them each a potion. "Invisibility potions," he hissed softly. "They don't last long but they should get us into the building during shift change." 

Jyn shook her head when he offered her one and smiled crookedly. "Familiar magic," she told him. He tilted his head then nodded, stowing it back in a pocket.

The pale blue glow of Baze's wisp flickered before the big man suddenly, and he nodded. Baze turned to them and motioned for them to follow. 

In an instant Jyn was in her cat form and on Bodhi's shoulder, seeming to blend into his hair, and Guardian and Kay seemed to be doing something similar, Bodhi noted. They moved silently and under the invisibility of potion and familiar magic to the scorched frame that remained of Galen Erso's home. They slipped in through a break in the wall, and they could all tell that something...explosive had happened here, with the scorched wood and stone, and the faint remaining smell of smoke. Cassian noted that magic seemed to be the only thing really holding the remaining structure up. 

Jyn surprised them by hopping down off Bodhi's shoulder and leading them towards the basement steps. Bodhi and Cassian exchanged a look before following, Chirrut and Baze bringing up the rear. Kay flapped his inky black wings and followed Jyn, hovering just a few feet above her as they all moved down the basement stairs. 

There'd been evidence upstairs of a workroom, and the basement seemed to be mainly storage. Somehow many of the boxes and shelves down here had survived, telling them all the explosion had occurred upstairs on the main floor. The shelves and boxes showed evidence of being ransacked by someone looking for something. Jyn seemed to circle the large storage area, until she found what looked like an ordinary drain in the floor. She sniffed at it, then moved in an odd pattern around it. Catching on to something through their mental speech, Kay and Guardian began to do the same. 

A few moments later, the floor glowed, and a hatch appeared, opening slowly. It revealed another set of stairs that lead downwards. The gray cat meowed and looked up at the humans as Kay landed beside her and Guardian returned to Chirrut's shoulder. Then, Jyn and Kay lead the way down this new set of stairs.

~~ ~~~

The tunnels that ran beneath the streets of the city weren't a recent creation. There'd been rumors of underground passages and catacombs for years, and while Cassian was aware of some underground passages, he'd only heard rumors of ones these extensive. 

Baze, Bodhi, and Cassian all walked with their wands out now, and Chirrut walked with his hand gripping his staff tightly, ready to use it both to channel magic or as a weapon at any moment. After the first hundred meters or so down the tunnel, Jyn had returned to Bodhi's shoulder, and Kay wrapped himself around Cassian's neck. The familiars were all tense with nervous energy.

"These tunnels are centuries old," Baze murmured as he walked at the back of the group, his eyes narrowed as he looked above his head, examining them. "Seems the old stories were true." The tunnels were large enough they could comfortably walk two abreast. 

"Of course they are," Chirrut said. "The witches and magical creatures of the past were not fools, and this town has been here for a very long time."

"I wonder how much the Superiorists know of these tunnels," Bodhi murmured.

"Enough to bring Erso down here," Cassian replied grimly as they followed the traces of magic through the tunnels, a clear sign that at some point, a witch had been down here casting spells as they moved down the tunnels. "Somewhere down here, I suspect they've stowed Jyn's father away, to force him to make weapons for them."

Jyn hissed at that, and Cassian sighed. "I know Jyn, your father wouldn't agree to, which means they may have hurt him or done something else..."

"Mind altering spells?" Bodhi frowned. "But those are illegal."

"They kidnapped the head of the local Council, Bodhi, I doubt a few illegal spells bother them," Kay said in a dry tone.

They came to a split in the tunnel one going west, one going east, and Cassian's brow creased as he tried to figure out which way to go. The spell he was using to track wasn't sure which way to go. Kay turned his head to regard Jyn, and Bodhi could almost feel the two familiars communicating before Jyn hopped off Bodhi's shoulder and took on her human form. Kay leapt across from Cassian and landed on her outstretched arm. "Ready?" she asked him.

Chirrut's owl whooped softly and Baze could feel his ferret shifting in his pocket, sticking her head out. Whills let out a soft squeak and Jyn nodded. The witches and warlock felt an odd tingle dance across their skin as the familiars worked together, drawing on their own magic. After a long moment, Jyn gestured for them to follow her down the west tunnel. She lead the way several hundred meters more, through a series of turns down other tunnels. Sometimes they came upon open passages with larger rooms, but Jyn ignored them, she and Kay intent on a very set path before them. She lead them into another large chamber, one with three tunnels leading in different directions than the one they'd come. There was a large table and chairs in the center of the chamber, with various boxes stacked haphazardly here and there.

When they encountered the first resistance, black robed witches, none of them were surprised, when Jyn throwing her arms up in a warding gesture before Kay flew off her shoulder, circling the head of the attacking group of witches and raining down sparks of flame. 

Bodhi found himself vaguely shocked when Jyn shifted to a cat form again, but this time into a much larger cat. It was odd seeing a Nebelung cat the size of a panther, but he had no time to ponder his familiar as white and black robed hooded figures came running out of two of the tunnels and he found himself diving behind a box and firing bolts of energy and other spells at the robed figures with his wand. 

Cassian thought it was rather cliche that the figures wore hoods to conceal their identities. The battle quickly turned to chaos as they fought through one wave and then another of figures, Chirrut wielding his staff skillfully to fend off attackers, and Baze firing cold spells at the figures. Cassian's own preferred method involved shadow magic, due to his connection to that realm and Kay. Bolts of shadow energy hurled through the air from his wand dodging the flames from the robed figures' wands. He hissed softly when a fire bolt caught him on the shoulder, and somewhere he heard Kay let out a loud shriek as the Shadow Imp dove at the offending witch. 

Jyn for her part torn into her enemies with tooth and claw, fighting with a ferocity that would impress Cassian and Bodhi if they weren't fighting themselves.

The tide seemed to thin and a few of the robed figures tried to retreat down the third passage, but Jyn snarled and followed. 

"Follow her Cassian!" Baze barked at the Warlock. "You too Bodhi. Chirrut and I will take care of any stragglers here."

Bodhi and Cassian scrambled to follow down the tunnel as Kay flitted down the tunnel after the snarling gray cat.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rogue One crew confronts Krennic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Rogue One or Star Wars.
> 
> Just one more chapter to go! Thank you so much to my readers who have followed me on this journey. And thank you again CaptainAndors for the original inspiration!

Jyn wouldn't be able to tell you later on if her race down the long hall was minutes or seconds, her mind focused solely on a familiar power signature she sensed further down the tunnel. The signature came from a witch who was most definitely alive, but weak, and it chilled her to think what might have caused that weakness.

The resistance she, Kay, Bodhi, and Cassian met as they reached the end of the tunnel in the form of two more black robed guards was expected, and Cassian and Bodhi cut them down in a furry of wand bolts. A solid steel door now stood in their way, and Jyn could sense her father's power beyond. She hissed at the door as Bodhi ran his fingers along it, hissing himself at sparks of electricity that shocked him.

"They do not want us to get in, do they?" Kay asked Jyn blandly as she glared balefully at the door. "This may be easier if you were in human form."

Jyn shifted forms faster that Bodhi could blink, and his familiar reached her hand out towards the door. He opened his mouth to warn her, then frowned when she didn't experience the same spark that he did. Her blue-green gaze considered the door coldly as she ran her hand over the steel surface. "One more pulse I think, Kay," she told the shadow imp.

Kay nodded and landed on her shoulder as Bodhi and Cassian realized that Jyn and Kay were using their magic as familiars to bypass whatever spell was on the door. Cassian was intriged, and Bodhi both curious and confused. "A lot of witches forget that familiars are more than just power batteries for their spells," Jyn replied to their silent questions with a faint smirk. "We have our own magic that we can utilize."

"It's the same sort of magic that might let a familiar slip through a ward when a witch or warlock could not," Kay added. "Krennic evidently did not expect that he would have to face familiars that are familiar with breaking wards."

The door shimmered red and then flickered back to its original steel. Jyn pressed her ear to the door, listening to the voices within. 

"Even without your familiar you managed to make one rod, Erso, I know you can make another," Krennic sneered.

The other individual in the room gave a tired laugh. "And what would you do with more than one rod, Orson? One is already enough to level a village. You've already turned my work into a weapon, what more do you need from me."

"More of them," Krennic replied coldly. "Enough to level as many towns and cities as we must to get the mundanes under control. Mundanes will never understand magic, but they will understand fear."

Bodhi and Cassian immediately pressed forward, wands at the ready as they regarded the sight before them.

Galen Erso leaned heavily against a table filled with unfinished plans. Jyn's father was pale, exhausted looking, and Jyn felt rage burn in her heart at the way she guessed Krennic had been treating her father for the past several months. Her eyes flickered to rhe body of a snake on the floor. Cold dread suffused both Jyn and Kay. They both knew instantly the dead snake on the floor was Galen's former familiar. Jyn's mind brought up her name, Lah'mu, and brief memories of the reptile from childhood. The scene before them proved that Krennic had no issue with killing a familiar.

The death of one member of the bond, be it witch or familiar, severely weakened the other. That explained her father's weakened power signature. Based on the state of the snake's body, Krennic must have preserved her after killing her weeks or months ago, to mock and torment Galen.

Orson Krennic himself loomed over Jyn's father, his white half cape swishing as he swirled around suddenly at the interuption.

Rage blazing in Bodhi's eyes, he used the moment of distraction and surprise to his advantage, and shot a spell off at Krennic. Not a bolt of energy intending to harm, but something else.   
Krennic dove sideways, avoiding the bolt as he snarled, "So you bring others into this too, do you Erso? None of you will survive to see the outside of this room." There was a mocking tone in that voice, as if Krennic could not somehow comprehend that even outnumbered, that he could lose.

A moment later Jyn understood why. What had first appeared to be scrap in the corner jerked upright, and the metal forms of magic automatons moved jerkily forward towards them. Four, five? Jyn wasn't entirely certain at first, her attention ripped away from her father in order to deal with this new threat. The menacing look that Krennic shot and her and Kay, and the body of the snake on the floor, told both familiars that this evil witch would not hesitate to hurt them to strike down their witch and warlock. It only made the Cait Sith and Shadow Imp angrier. 

Bodhi applied himself to the automatons, noting the condition of the metal they were made from and their general speed. They were fast, but not as flexible or strong as Krennic might hope they were. Bodhi rolled under a table, knowing the automatons wouldn't be able to follow him as quickly. His mind flew through the types of energy spells he knew. Any plant he might try and summon and grow would be ripped to shreds, but there were other natural substances that corroded metal..

Salt water and acid sprayed out of Bodhi's wand, a soft hiss occurring as the liquids hit the automatons. One of them too damage almost immediately as the corrosion hit its joints causing it to come to a screeching halt. A second fell victim to the second blast from Bodhi's wand. Cassian turned his attention to the others, his own thoughts following those of his apprentice as he pulled on energy to corrode the magical constructions. This kept their attention turned from Krennic though, who had his wand out and aimed it towards wizard and warlock.

Only to be hit by the form of a panther sized gray cat, claws slashing at his face and his chest, forcing him down onto the floor. Jyn snarled and snapped at him as Kay swooped in and shot an odd bolt of black energy towards the struggling witch, aiming directly for his eyes. The witch cried out in pain as he was temporarily blinded, flailing against Jyn's hold on him. There was a snarl of pain from the cat though when he blindly swiped his wand at her, sparks of fire shooting out, and the smell of singed hair and fur filled the air. He struggled free of her grasp, clearing his eyes, and he smirked at her as he reached towards something on the table. An odd, long looking rod of plain silver metal.

"JYN LOOK OUT!" Galen's shout cut across the room and Jyn slammed her full weight back into Krennic just as he grabbed the wand and it fell from his hand and rolled onto the floor away from him. 

"NO, I will kill you and your wretched child, Galen Erso, just as I killed your wife," Krennic swore. He began muttering words under his breath, and the rod began to glow 

Red swam across Jyn's vision as she snapped her jaw forward and tore at Krennic's throat. He gurgled as his body began to fall limply to the floor.

"Jyn...we...have to get out of here," Galen's tired voice filled their ears. "Triggered the self destruct mechanism..."

Bodhi was there at Galen's side, helping the weakened witch up and supporting him as he staggered towards the door. Jyn saw a small flicker of sparks begin to surround the rod on the floor and felt relief when she saw Cassian rush to Galen's other side to help the older man out of the room. She limped towards the door as flames began to surround the rod, feeling Kay clinging to her neck as she moved.

She felt the rise of Kay's power as she limped after the witches and warlock, pain from the burn on her leg slowing her down. She had little doubt that Bodhi and Cassian had their own injuries from bolts of whatever kind of energy Krennic's underlings had fired at them earlier. If they all got out of this alive, the next few days would be spent resting and healing, but she could feel the heat of flames behind her before the steel door slammed shut at Kay's power. She could hear the imp grimace as he hissed in her ear. "That will hold it for a few minutes, but we must get out of here."

They hurried as best they could back up the long hall, and into the room where they'd left Baze and Chirrut. Bodies lay scattered around the large wizard and the blind one, their grim expressions clearing a fraction when they saw Bodhi and Cassian helping Galen, and Jyn in her big cat form following behind.

"I sense a rather dangerous spell flickering below," Chirrut muttered. "We must get out of here quickly, and not the way we came in." He tapped his staff twice on the ground and tilted his head to listen for a moment, then gestured. "Follow me."

No one argued with Chirrut as he lead them down one of the passages that the black robed underlings had used earlier. Chirrut moved unerringly through another maze of tunnels, and they followed him trusting that he would guide them to safety. Jyn could feel the ground beneath their feet trembling as whatever self destruction spell had been on Krennic's rod exploded in the tunnels they'd left behind, and only hoped that Chirrut could lead them far away enough and quickly enough that they wouldn't get trapped in the rubble.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Galen Erso's rescue. Rogue One discusses the future, and Cassian just might as Jyn out on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Star Wars, I'm just playing with their toys.
> 
> Thank you so much for all my readers who kudo'd, commented, and stuck with me through this ride. There will probably be one shots in the future. There's future plot and how Rogue One just might effect the war in the world of magic. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr @serstolas

The sudden reappearance of one Galen Erso sent ripples through the magic community that would remain for many months to come. The night of his rescue, he'd been taken to Baze and Chirrut's home and cared for under the watchful eyes of the witches and their access to a wide variety of healing plants. Cassian, Bodhi, Jyn, and Kay all ended up staying the night at the Malbus-Îmwe home. After they'd tended each others wounds, they'd all more or less collapsed together in one of the guest rooms, not really caring that the bed wasn't really big enough for three human adults and a shadow imp, but even Kay craved the comfort that physical contact between them brought that night.

Thanks to Bodhi and Chirrut's knowledge of medicinal magic plants and healing, no injuries the rescuers suffered would be lasting. There were bruises and burns that would take a few days to heal, but nothing that would cause permanent damage. Bodhi informed Jyn she was rather lucky the blast from Krennic hadn't done more lasting damage to her arm, in a tone filled both with worry and minor lecture. The Cait Sith's flinch had quickly been swallowed by a hug from her witch. Watching them interact, Kay and Cassian had no doubt that would end up being a permanent witch-familiar bond.

Galen Erso's condition was a bit more serious. The death of a familiar or witch severely weakened the other member of the bond, and the fact that Galen had been held captive and forced to work for months after the death of his familiar, constantly taunted by her well preserved body, had taken its tole on the witch. Baze told both Galen and Jyn bluntly it would be several months if not a year or more before Galen recovered from Lah'mu's death, and even then, it might effect his magic in the future. He still retained his ability to perform spells and the like, but his ability had been weakened. 

Galen told his daughter softly he had no desire to ever return to a position of power on the Council. He preferred to avoid it completely, but with what he'd learned from Krennic's ranting, he knew he could not sit idle. 

That brought to mind a greater concern they all had. Krennic had found backing from someone, not all his followers had been local. Somewhere, there was a bigger fish that pulled strings and was encouraging a war between the magical and the mundane. Their first night was spent resting and recuperating, but they all knew that they would have to face the council, and others with what this all meant, especially if they were going to have a chance of saving their world from the Superiorists. 

Krennic's sudden disappearance sent a wave of panic through the local council, people wondering where the Head Councilor had gone and why suddenly some members of his support team had vanished too. Was it Erso's disappearance all over again?

Cassian and Kay took it upon themselves the following night to sneak into Krennic's home and find what they could about his plans. Someone had been there before them, but there were some small items, notes and two books, that had been missed in someone's hasty departure. Cassian secreted these items away and met again with with Galen, Jyn, Bodhi, Baze, and Chirrut. Then he sent a message to Draven.

The old witch didn't seem surprised when he was quietly called to a meeting at Baze and Chirrut's home, nor did he seem entirely shocked to find that Galen Erso was alive. "Krennic was pushing too hard to just want to kill you, Erso," he told the other man. "I just couldn't find any signs of where he'd taken you. Seems your daughter, Andor, and Rook took care of that though." Then holding a mug of tea from Baze, he sat and listened to everything that Galen Erso could tell him about what Krennic was planning, from the original rod he'd forced Galen to craft that held the power to destroy a town when activated, to his mutterings and the few meetings Galen overheard where Krennic was meeting with followers, or other members of the Superiorist movement. They were planning something big, he knew, but where and when he did not know. Krennic had sent the plans for the rod to someone, but the actual rod that Galen had been tortured into creating had been destroyed at least.

Draven looked grim when the other witch finished. "To some people, it won't matter that you were tortured, Erso," he said in his blunt way. "They'll accuse you of helping Krennic." He sighed heavily. "And that there are plans out there for this thing concerns me. But we need to deal with the local council first, see what help we can get here. There are enough people who didn't trust Krennic that here at least I think we can root out his followers. You'll need to testify before them. Then if Mothma can get in touch with Obi Wan, we can see what help we can find beyond our own town, and who else might be out there, ready to fight the Superiorists."

"The Council's going to try and tear my father apart," Jyn snapped. "He's already lost his familiar and been tortured for the past almost six months. What more can you ask of him."

Draven regarded her steadily. "I am well aware of what the council may try and do, Jyn Erso, I'm on it. What your father has to say is damning for both Krennic and himself, but if we can emphasize that he did none of it willingly, and the torture that he endured, it will help." He clasped his hands together. "I've another suggestion. You won't like it, but I think it will help him the best."

"What do you suggest?" Cassian quickly interjected before Jyn could go off again.

"Truth spells," Draven replied. "They're draining in the individual in question, and normally I wouldn't suggest it given Erso's current state, but I think in this case it may be necessary."

Jyn flinched and moved closer to her father on the couch. Erso murmured softly to his daughter. "Stardust, I hate this as much as you, but I believe Councilor Draven is right. And you and your witch will be there, as well as Baze and Chirrut. It will be taxing on me, but you all can help me recover afterwards."

"It isn't ideal, but I think it is our best shot," Baze rumbled. "And your father will be staying here with us, Jyn, so you know he has access to decent care and a safe place to recover. And you know you can visit whenever you wish."

Jyn sighed, and turned her face into her father's shoulder as she'd gone last when she was a small child. "I'm glad you're safe, Papa, and I worry about you...but I know this coming war is bigger than any of us."

"Mon Mothma and I will be there to give support to your father as well," Draven told her. "We will not let him be held responsible for what Krennic did." Him grimaced. "If nothing else, the death of his familiar would be punishment enough in the eyes of most."

Draven left shortly after that. In the sudden vacuum created by Krennic's death, he and Mothma were working fast to ensure that one of Krennic's followers or one of the other Superiorists didn't get elected to Head Council again. 

The past few days had been incredibly wearing on all involved, and as Galen felt himself begin to flag and the need for sleep again starting to overcome him, he told his daughter firmly, "Go home with your Witch Rook, and Andor and Kay. Get some rest, Stardust. We will have plenty of time to talk later."

With some reluctance, Jyn let Bodhi and Cassian lead her back to their house, a place she was already starting to think of as home.  
~~~

The coming days seemed like complete chaos to Jyn. Almost a week after his rescue, her father stood before the Witches Council and testified, under some of the strongest truth spells Jyn had ever seen, about the nature of his kidnapping, imprisonment, and torture at the hands of one Orson Krennic. As Draven predicted, there were a few vocal detractors who insisted Erso be held responsible for some of it, and a few more who weren't quite willing to trust him entirely, but none of them could actually circumvent the evidence that Cassian had found in Krennic's home or Galen's testimony under truth spell. In the end, Mon Mothma was declared Head Councilor for the time being. She and Draven had already begun the steps of reaching out to others beyond their own town along trusted channels, quietly preparing for the war they all knew was coming against the Superiorists. 

They also quietly watched for those who had supported Krennic, and for the Superiorists in general. 

Late that night, Jyn lay on the loveseat in Bodhi and Cassian's living room, staring up at the ceiling tiredly as Cassian and Bodhi collapsed onto the couch, all too weary to move much right now. She knew her father was safe back at Baze and Chirrut's home, and now they had to begin thinking about how all of this would effect their future. She already knew going back to Saw wasn't an option. She knew the old man would help where he could against the Superiorists, but she couldn't go back into hiding that deeply anymore. She had to taken an active role in all of this.

Kay lay half asleep curled on Jyn's chest in a ball of shadow imp, tail and wings wrapped firmly around himself. She smiled faintly at the sarcastic imp familiar. She'd grown rather used to working with him over the past few weeks, and the two of them meshed well together. She closed her eyes for a moment and felt the witch-familiar bond between her and Bodhi thrumming between them. Technically it was new enough it could still be broken without seriously harming either of them, but..

"So we're going to help in all of this right?" Jyn voiced the question to Cassian and Bodhi.

Cassian arched a brow, half sitting up at her question. "I sort of thought that it was a given Bodhi and I were involved. This is our home after all."

"Well if Bodhi's involved, I'm involved," Jyn replied. "I am his familiar after all."

Bodhi sat forward, regarding her seriously, and hopefully. "So we're doing this then?" he asked.

"Have either of us given any indication we want to break the bond, Bodhi?" she snarked.

"Anyone with eyes could tell you wouldn't break the bond," Kay muttered sleepily from her chest. "Anyone with eyes can also see that you and Cassian are attracted to each other and realy should go out on a date. You all are rather loud and I'm trying to sleep here."

Jyn flushed a bit, and Cassian blinked, while Bodhi let a smirk flicker over his lips. He rolled to his feet. "Come on, Kay, you and I will get something to eat then head to bed," he told the shadow him. "Jyn and Cassian can figure the rest out on their own." He held his arm out to the shadow imp as he reached the loveseat and stood beside Jyn. Lazily Kay slipped up Bodhi's arm and settled himself on the witch's shoulder, then the two disappeared briefly into the kitchen, and Jyn could hear them more back towards the bedrooms a few minutes later.

Cassian still hadn't moved from the couch, watching Jyn both warily, and hopefully, from where he sat. Jyn rose and stalked cat-wise across the distance, then settled herself on the couch, taking the liberty of resting her head in Cassian's lap as she sprawled on the sofa cushions. Cassian couldn't resist stroking his fingers through her hair and behind her ears, and she purred contently. 

"You going to ask me on that date, or do I have to ask you?" Jyn said after a few minutes, leaning into Cassian's stroking hands. Cassian paused a moment and considered her, then felt her shift as she settled herself more in his lap, her face even with his. 

"Yes Jyn," he replied as he dipped his lips slightly to press them against her own. "I'm asking you on a date."

"Mm, good," she purred. "Then I accept."

**Author's Note:**

> Nebelung cats https://cattime.com/cat-breeds/nebelung-cats
> 
> Reference that inspired Kay the Shadow Imp https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e0/ce/ff/e0ceff55a076aa3edf49d982f089b686.jpg


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